As autism parents, we think Kim Mulford of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post should be awarded a prize for her recent front-page story “State Struggles to Treat Dually Diagnosed: NJ ‘Ill-Equipped’ for Patients with Autism, Mental Illness.” (courierpostonline.com, Feb. 27).

The media usually offers us “happy news” about autism (charity fundraisers, athletic achievements), but this well-researched article presents the grim reality, which is nothing like “The Good Doctor.” The majority of autistic individuals have the additional burden of other mental disorders. Our own children have never been seriously violent, but they are relatively fortunate: the kind of violence that Michael Riley exhibited is all too common.

A 2011 study by Drs. Stephen Kanne and Micah Mazurek found that 56 percent of children with autism spectrum disorder were violent toward caregivers, and 32 percent were violent toward non-caregivers. The violence may be caused by autism itself, but as in the case of Michael Riley, it is often aggravated by anti-psychotic medications.

We know a number of families like the Rileys, and they don’t know where to turn. They fear that if they send their children to psychiatric facilities, they will be doped up as Michael Riley reportedly was. Organizations that provide services to the autism community often can’t handle violent individuals, who are most in need of help. Even autism advocacy groups don’t like to talk about the links between autism, mental illness, and domestic and school violence. So we commend your paper for confronting this issue with rare honesty.